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Local Election Survey 2018 – Candidates

We’re surveying candidates in Greater Manchester for the 2018 election. Find out more about the survey.

Below is a summary of the responses across the areas of Greater Manchester. Where a candidate has already responded, you can see their response. If your candidates haven’t yet responded, follow the Twitter link to ask them to!

process
Name
Ben Clay
Party
Labour
City/Borough
Manchester
Area
Burnage

Question 1
Climate Change
Do you agree that Greater Manchester should adopt the Tyndall Centre’s science-based carbon budgets, set targets to halve the region’s emissions in the next five years and become carbon neutral by 2038?

Undecided

These are difficult and challenging targets, especially as little has been done to encourage the switch away from carbon based power generation under the Tory governments since 2010, and subsidy and investment for renewables has been decreased. Investment in retrofit would help to reduce emissions, fuel poverty, and including renewables in social housing schemes could assist this, along with delivering locally produced small to medium municipal power, cutting bills and generating revenue for local authorities. All this work requires the skills of high value trades and would enable investment in new apprenticeships and increased employment opportunities.

Question 2
Divestment from Fossil Fuels
Do you agree that the Greater Manchester Pension Fund should fully divest from fossil fuels in the next five years?

Yes

Yes! See my previous answer. Financially, climate change is a massive risk and the huge economic costs of the social and political upheaval that would result from, say, a 4 degree rise, resulting desertification, starvation and instability in large swathes of the equatorial zones of the planet - with conflict likely across large parts of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Central and South America would make the Mediterranean refugee crisis look like a storm in a tea cup. There are huge economic and real politic benefits to mitigating this coming disaster as well as the obvious moral and humanitarian ones.

Question 3
Walking and Cycling
Will you support your local council allocating funding to implement the walking and cycling (active travel) measures contained in Chris Boardman's ‘Made to Move’ report?

Undecided

I fully support the goals and I am agreement on the benefits - however, without a change of government or a complete reversal in the Tory attitude to local government funding it seems unlikely we could match these ambitious plans with the funding commitment set out here, in the context of continuing cuts imposed from central government and the need to protect other front line services like Adult Health and Social Care, Children's Services, and aiding the victims of the brutal assault on the welfare state, unemployed, sick and disabled with Universal Credit and related DWP policies.

Question 4
Air Quality
Will you call on your local council to introduce ‘parking exclusion zones’ around local schools at peak times?

Yes

This is a great idea, and we should also consider if we can provide a school bus service to reduce congestion and parking problems as well as traffic pollution.

Question 5
Biodiversity
Will you support a ban on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides in your local council area and work to phase out the use of other pollinator-harming pesticides?

Yes

Absolute no brainer, save the bees!

Question 6
Plastics
Will you support the phase-out of single-use plastics in your local authority by 2020?

Yes

This was the subject of a recent debate and agreed by the council in March. It also featured in the GM green summit. There may be some difficulties in some areas but we need to find innovative solutions. I am very keen on the Macaway road tar product produced using non recyclable plastics. It is harder wearing than normal bitumen tar, uses less of this polluting carbon based product and reuses plastic which would otherwise go to landfill or incineration.

Question 7
Aviation
Will you support the introduction of a cap on emissions from flights to and from Manchester Airport?

Yes

We cannot allow the exponential growth of aviation based pollution if we are to hit targets on reducing global emissions. Aviation must change, and we need to see its growth slow until it can be transformed into a less carbon heavy mode of transport.

Question 8
Energy Efficiency
Do you support the introduction of a GM-wide building standard for all new developments to be zero-carbon and climate resilient?

Yes

This is a great goal, but will be challenging, and the funding will be hard to find. Retrofit of existing buildings is very important, but we need new homes particularly social housing, and a far higher level of investment or changes to borrowing and council house receipts must be put in place to allow new homes to be built to this standard.

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